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December 14th, 2009
B&B’s head honcho Brad Bell on ATWT’s and Moonves!

Photo Credit: JPI Studios

In a new TV Guide Magazine interview with Brad Bell , the head honcho of CBS’s The Bold and the Beautiful, Michael Logan brings up to Bell last week’s horrific soap events. First, CBS’s decision to cancel As the World Turns and then CBS leader Les Moonves uttering these words: “Is it the end of an era?” Sort of. Only the special soaps are going to survive. It’s certainly the end of the client-owned soap.” So Logan wanted to know from Bell, what does that mean for The Bell Family dynasty shows of Y&R and B&B, the other two client owned soaps on CBS?

Here are some thoughts and answers and excerpts from this must read!Bell’s take on Moonves comments and any concern: “I believe that he was specifically referring to the P&G shows when he said that. B&B just recently signed a two-year deal with CBS in October, so we have legs with the network. Y&R signed a similar deal around the same time. I think we’re now down to the six soaps that will survive. For me there was no surprise that ATWT was cancelled. Their business model wasn’t working. I had [prior to the cancellation] spoken to people at P&G and they were very free with the information that they were losing money and they wanted to either find a way to make ATWT profitable or get out of the game. So they had to pull the plug and CBS had to pull the plug. P&G is a big company and they’re more focused on selling their products and less concerned about their shows. They certainly care about their fans…but it was time.”

Bell on if there is a silver lining in any of the terrible news: “If we’re to look at the positive, there are now hundreds of channels and soaps are still the top-rated shows in their timeslots. I look at the ratings for Mad Men—a show that has everybody talking—and they’re only pulling in a million viewers. You’ve got to be kidding me! Talk shows and game shows are so inexpensive to produce but we’re determined to challenge them and stay competitive with them. It’s not over yet for the Bell family. We plan to be in this business for many years to come.”

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